Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
MITHRIDATE
Etymology
Noun
mithridate (plural mithridates)
(pharmacology, obsolete) A supposed universal antidote against poison.
Source: Wiktionary
Mith"ri*date, n. (Med.)
Definition: An antidote against poison, or a composition in form of an electuary, supposed to serve either as a remedy or a preservative against poison; an alexipharmic; -- so called from King Mithridates, its reputed inventor. [Love is] a drop of the true elixir; no mithridate so effectual against the infection of vice. Southey.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
17 June 2025
RECREANT
(adjective) having deserted a cause or principle; “some provinces had proved recreant”; “renegade supporters of the usurper”
Coffee Trivia
